March 2015 Favourites

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you're all having a lovely day (and eating loads of delicious chocolate). It's the first Sunday of the month so time for the previous month's favourites - here's what I've been loving in March...

Favourite item of clothing: Joy Wuthering Heights shopper bag
I've suddenly become a bag girl - and it all started with this one. I wanted a bag that I could use for work on days when I needed something smarter than my backpack but could still carry lots of stuff, and this is perfect; it's a classic shape, quirky print and will fit everything you could ever need (I managed to get a pair of trainers, an A4 notebook and all my regular daily junk in there the first time I used it). Sadly it's no longer on the Joy website but it might be available in some stores, so if you see it grab it and run to the till! A brilliantly practical day bag that will get loads of admiring comments.Favourite beauty product: Jo Malone Birch and Black Pepper Cologne
This is an absolutely wonderful fragrance. Part of the Rock The Ages collection, it's inspired by modern Britain and has notes of cardamom and tattoo ink as well as the titular birch and black pepper. When it's on, there's a slightly spicy edge to it, but it's not too rich that you couldn't wear it in the daytime - it's the sort of perfume to wear at weekends with your leather jacket and jeans, easing into the evening. It oozes cool and has that thing you can't quite put your finger on but keep wanting to go back and sniff repeatedly, so if you like different fragrances I'd really recommend trying to get a smell of this. It's limited edition so may not still be in stores but the website still has it in stock if you want to give it a go.Favourite book: Ross Poldark and Demelza by Winston Graham
Cornwall is one of my favourite places to visit and I love reading books set there, so when we finally got a date for the new TV version of Poldark I decided to read the first two books in Winston Graham's series which this adaptation is based on. And they're wonderful; beautifully realised, luxurious descriptions of the scenery, really well-rounded characters - especially Demelza, who comes into her own in the second book in particular - and a really good mix of romance, social commentary and humour but without being too dark or too flippant. Definitely worth picking up if you like the TV series.Favourite TV programme: Community
My husband introduced me to this (thanks Nick!) and it has rapidly become our thing to watch a few episodes after dinner. Set in Greendale Community College (hence the title), it follows ex-lawyer Jeff Winger who has to return to college after his law degree is found to be invalid, and the wonderfully strange group of misfits he meets in Spanish study group. It is laugh-out-loud funny, almost toe-curlingly so in places, but the relationships between the groups are what makes it; watch out for ex-star quarterback Troy and wannabe film director Abed in particular. There are also some fantastic peripheral characters as well, such as Vaughn the hippy and Abed's uptight dad. Plus Joel McHale is rather easy on the eye...Favourite music: The Shires - Brave
In the last few months I've got massively into country music; it started with Nashville, then Dolly Parton at Glastonbury and went from there. However, despite numerous attempts to get it going in the UK such as the Country 2 Country Festival and Bob Harris' long-running country show on Radio 2 (highly recommended to find out what's going on in the country scene), no British country act has broken through quite like The Shires who recently hit the top 10 with their album Brave. It's a brilliant mix of heartfelt ballads and barnstorming anthems, all strung together by beautiful melodies and the perfect blend of Ben and Crissie's voices. My favourite tracks are 'Nashville Grey Skies', 'Friday Night', 'Tonight' and 'State Lines', but you'll find yourself singing along to every word. A brilliant, brilliant album.Favourite thing to do this month: Birchbox Benefit Mascara Masterclass
Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be invited to this event at Benefit's Curl's Best Friend salon (sadly closed now, but touring the UK from 17th April) and it was brilliant. I've reviewed it in full here but from the amazing cocktails to the talking compliment mirror, via some fantastic tutorials on how to use Benefit's vast range of mascaras in SS15 looks from make-up artist Lisa Potter-Dixon, I also got to meet some really lovely fellow bloggers and learnt the wonders of mascara 'cocktailing' to make your eyelashes look massive! A really enjoyable evening out.